Channel 4 management bill eats up profits
Channel 4 are the latest firm to come under fire over executive salaries, after it emerged that total boardroom pay at the publicly owned channel hit nearly £4m in 2009.
This represents a rise of 13% from 2008 despite a fall in profits from £1.8m to £300k over the same period.
Chief culprit for the splurge was former chief executive Andy Duncan who nabbed nearly £1.5m after leaving the firm last November.
The payment was defended by Channel 4’s chairman Lord Burns who declared “That’s life”, as he unveiled the broadcaster’s annual report.
Future cash bonanzas are likely to be stingier however after Burns stressed that the marketplace had changed, stating that contractual arrangements “must” put salaries and “arrangements” back by two or three years.
Attempting to mollify any bad press Burns pointed out that senior management took a voluntary pay cut in 2008 and that it remained important for the business to “compete for talent.”